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World Health Day: Good health and safe food come first

On World Health Day, Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European commissioner for health and food safety, makes the case for prioritising public health and food safety in the EU and sets out his game plan for the next five years.

European Voice

By
Peter O'Donnell

4/7/15, 12:02 AM CET

During my 23 years as a heart surgeon, patients would often ask me whether their illness could have been prevented. My answer followed conventional medical wisdom: many chronic diseases are linked to lifestyles and can be prevented or delayed with a healthy diet and exercise, and by avoiding risk factors, including the ones like tobacco.

Nowadays, I no longer have patients. I have 500 million citizens in 28 European countries for whom I need to ensure, together with national authorities, that they have the best possible health and the safest food.

This year’s World Health Day – my first as European commissioner for health and food safety – is a good opportunity for us all to reflect on the importance of health and food in our everyday lives. I would also like to take this opportunity to present my thoughts on my priorities for the next five years, focusing on three main principles: prevention, promotion and protection. The more we focus our health systems on prevention now, the less we will pay in treatment in the future. Promoting healthier choices means healthier citizens. And we need to better protect citizens from any health or food crisis that may arise.

Food safety, the theme of this year’s World Health Day, is the single biggest contributor to a healthy society. Guarding against food crises that can potentially have a big impact on public health and the economy is for me a key priority. Over the years, we have built a solid body of European legislation that we can be proud of, and I will now concentrate on ensuring that it remains fit for purpose and provides an environment where European consumers have confidence that food is safe and where food businesses can thrive.

Two of the most important challenges lying ahead are how to tackle the growing resistance to antibiotics, and how to fight disruption of the human endocrine system. The fight against antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest public health threats facing the world today. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics, both in the human and the animal world, are responsible for the deaths of 25,000 patients every year in the EU. The costs incurred by drug-resistant infections amount to an estimated €1.5 billion annually, due to increases in healthcare expenditure costs and productivity losses. We have proposed legislation and have put in place an action plan which looks at effective ways to prevent the spread of microbial infections and to develop modern antimicrobials, and we continue to assess what further actions should be taken.

On endocrine disruptors, the world’s eyes are on Europe to lead the way. Divergent views exist among scientists and regulators worldwide on this fairly recent way of looking into the toxicity of chemicals. That is why I want to openly discuss this with all interested parties and carefully assess the potential impact before coming to a policy decision.

Other challenging issues under my portfolio concern striking the right balance between consumer information and choice – taking into account animal welfare concerns – and maintaining a competitive environment for businesses to trade in.

Responsible food production goes hand in hand with public health and economic requirements. Promoting food safety together with healthy and sustainable diet can contribute to a healthier population as well as an appreciable food waste reduction.

Regarding public health, I intend to provide a toolbox that EU countries can use to address their respective challenges in both health promotion and provision of healthcare services. I will work closely with them to identify where improvements can be made to strengthen their health systems. I want to foster a more coherent policy approach for chronic diseases, which account for 63% of deaths worldwide and more than 70% of healthcare costs in the EU.

I will work to ensure that we invest in prevention of serious cross-border health threats such as a flu pandemic or a food-borne illness (for example, e-coli) by ensuring that the tools available in legislation are fit for purpose and that our citizens are well protected.

With a gap of 8.4 years in life expectancy between European countries, and major health discrepancies between people with different levels of education, I believe we need to work further to bridge the inequalities that exist in Europe today in health and in access to healthcare.

Health and food safety are intrinsic to our very existence. During the next five years, I will work for EU citizens to have access to affordable and high quality healthcare; for them to have the means to make real choices on the food they eat; and so that they are protected from food crises and other health threats. But a European commissioner cannot do this alone. It is ultimately through action on the ground, with national authorities and all interested actors, that we can achieve our goal of a healthier Union.

Vytenis Andriukaitis is the European commissioner for health and food safety.

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